What did God say to Abraham?

The call and first revelation of the promise to Abram is found in Gen. 12:1-3, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Subsequently, Jehovah appeared unto Abram and said, Unto thy seed I will give this land" (Gen. 12:7). What can be plainer? A particular land given to Abram and his seed, a great nation, and a great name; blessing from God to Abram, and he a blessing to others; God treating men as they treated Abram; and in him blessing secured to all the families of the earth. Blessings natural and spiritual to Abram and his seed, and so even to the Gentiles are, I believe, conveyed in this inalienable promise, part of which is repeated in still clearer terms in Gen. 13, and confirmed by sacrifice in Gen. 15. Then we have circumcision enjoined as the covenant sign in Gen. 17, where the name is changed to Abraham, "for a father of many nations have I made thee;" and, finally, after the son of the bondwoman is cast out, in Gen. 22, we have Isaac, the son of the free-woman, the child and heir of promise, raised up from the dead in a figure, and the oath. See Heb. 6. "By myself have I, sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice" (Heb. 6:16-18).

The Lord had before told Abram to leave his country, his kindred and his father's house, and go to a land He would show him. this call took place while he was still in Ur of the Chaldees (Acts 7:2-4). God declared that He would make of Abram a great nation, that He would bless him and make his name great, and that he would be a blessing (v. 2). More than this, God would bless those who blessed Abram and curse those who cursed him. Further still, in Abram all the families of the earth would be blessed (v. 3). This is above all a prophecy concerning Christ, the Seed of Abram, through whom blessing is to come to the entire world.

God called Abraham, who was a type (both according to the flesh and the spirit) of the family of God, and the depositary of all His promises. These are the terms of this call: "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great: and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Here, in principle, was separation from the world, by breaking all its strongest ties and nearest relationships, in order that he might give himself to God alone, in heart, faith, and confidence.

It suffices to point out here the position of Abraham, called to be the deposit and stock of promise and blessing, "Get thee out of thy country and out of thy kindred, and out of thy father's house, to a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and thou shalt be a blessing. Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Blessing characterised his calling. He is blessed and a blessing. Blessing is measured out by dispositions towards him. And he is the one source of blessing to all the families of the earth. This is a very remarkable position and a most blessed, and, in its character, a divine one, which we shall do well to consider as regards ourselves. I will suggest a word or two in a moment. But, remark here how divine a one it is in its nature. God is blessedness in Himself. It characterises Him. He is the source of it to all who have any. This was, derivatively, just Abraham's place. He was made blessed, in this sense had blessedness on the earth, distinctively and especially so; he was the source of it to all the families of the earth. If there was a curse, it was only for enmity to this. This is a most precious, and in character divine, place for a creature; a creature blessed no doubt, and quickened of God; but thence only the more precious because the more real.

For a time Lot remained with him. Subsequently he parted from him. Then Abraham and Sarah were alone, as regards blood relations, a childless couple without kindred in their encampment. Just at that juncture, when the patriarch was sojourning between Bethel and Ai, the Lord confirmed, and apparently without solicitation on His servant's part, the promise made to him at Shechem: "Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward, and eastward and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land, in the length of it, and in the breadth of it; for I will give it to thee" (Gen. 13:14-17). Unconditional had been the promise of the land to Abraham's seed at Shechem. Unlimited in duration, he now heard, was to be the term of its enjoyment by his offspring. God, the God of the whole earth, who alone had the right and the power to dispose of any portion of the globe as He pleased, had thus bound Himself to Abraham and to his seed. What a thing it was, and Abraham, once an idolater, must have felt it, to have to do with the one true God, who could act in such grace.

But the seed to inherit it, where was that? Some years had passed away since that memorable day at Shechem, but Abraham was still childless, and the prospect of a lineal descendant as remote as ever. Now fresh revelations are vouchsafed him (Gen. 15), first about his seed (1-6), and next about the land (7-21). With the former only are we here concerned. "After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed; and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. And He said to him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:1-6).

"And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham; and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." It was the greatest trial to which God had ever put the heart of a saint. It was not tempting with evils any more than God is tempted with them. It was, on the contrary, His own good that was before God, who would make His friend the witness of it, while testing his confidence in Himself and His word to the uttermost. Isaac was loved as only a child so promised, born and reserved for a wondrous destiny, could be — to say nothing of personal qualities that must endear him to his parents. How the father's heart must have pondered on God's covenant with "thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant," and the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession; especially after Hagar and Ishmael were expelled, and the word of promise came, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called!" The father was assured therefore that this son, and no other, was that of the promises. God could not lie; but He might and does try, and those most whom He loves best. So with Abraham now. God demands that the father shall offer up his only son for a burnt-offering on Mount Moriah. It was the shadow of His own incomparable and infinite gift, but only the shadow; for Christ really did suffer and die, and God the Father sent Him, in divine love, to be thus a propitiation for our sins.

137 The promises of blessing were given to Abraham unconditionally. We read in Genesis 17, that "when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be called Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." Then he received the seal of circumcision, which, if neglected, occasioned, not the loss of the promise nationally, but the cutting off of him who omitted it. We also see the unconditional promise in chapter 15, "He that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir"; and, again, "so shall thy seed be"; and in verse 18, "In the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt, unto the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenites," etc. This promise to Abraham is confirmed to Isaac in chapter 22, and to Jacob in the vision at Bethel, equally unconditionally.

After Abraham had shown forth in this way his complete faith in God, God said to him: "By myself have I sworn, … for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." You will notice that this is a promise — a covenant — between God and Abraham. You will notice that it is, as Paul says, "freely given in grace." There are no conditions attached to it, by which Abraham might lose the blessings God promised to him. There was no "IF" in the covenant, to raise a doubt. It was certain. It was ratified and was "signed, sealed and delivered" by the Lord God Almighty, and confirmed by God's oath. Notice, too, it followed at once on the ground of the death and resurrection (in type) of Abraham's only son whom he loved. (See Gen. 22:2.)

God had revealed His mind to Abraham. In the seventeenth verse of Genesis 18 we read: "The Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" and so He says to him in verse 20: "Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come to me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham stood yet before the Lord." In a moment Abraham had the sense — That is a doomed place. I must get my nephew Lot out of it. He had relations there. If you have any Christian relations, dear unsaved sinner, do not be amazed if those Christian friends become intensely importunate with you about the salvation of your soul. Why? just because, as Abraham knew in his day that Sodom was doomed, and that the judgment of the Lord was about to fall on that unutterably godless place, so now, we Christians know that the very next thing for the world is judgment. Mark that!

The promises made to Abraham were unconditional and absolute. They included a great deal besides the possession of the land of Canaan; but they certainly embraced this in the most explicit terms. "And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land." (Gen. 12:7.) "And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever … Arise, walk through the land, in the length of it, and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. (Gen. 13:14-17.) Abraham was apprised indeed that it was not immediate possession of the land which was to be given him. "And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years: and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance." (Gen. 15:13-14.) The land is then given to Abraham by covenant, and its boundaries most accurately defined. "In the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites." (Verses 18-21.) The promise of the land was repeated to Isaac (Gen. 26:3), and to Jacob (Gen. 28:13-14).